Abstract
BackgroundTriple-negative breast cancers (TNBCs) are a group of heterogeneous diseases with various morphology, prognosis, and treatment response. Therefore, it is important to identify valuable biomarkers to predict the therapeutic response and prognosis for TNBCs. Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) may have predictive value to pathological complete response (pCR) in neoadjuvant treated TNBCs. However, absence of standardized methodologies for TILs measurement has limited its evaluation and application in practice. In 2014, the International TILs Working Group formulated the recommendations of pathologic evaluation for TILs in breast cancers.MethodsTo evaluate the predictive value of TILs scored by methods recommended by International TILs Working Group 2014, we performed a retrospective study of TILs in 166 core needle biopsy specimens of primary invasive TNBCs with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in a Chinese population. Intratumoral TILs (iTILs) and stromal TILs (sTILs) were scored respectively. The associations between TILs and pCR were analyzed.ResultsBoth sTILs (p = 0.0001) and iTILs (P = 0.001) were associated with pCR in univariate logistic regression analysis. Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that both sTILs (P = 0.006) and iTILs (P = 0.04) were independent predictors for pCR. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve analysis was used to identify the optimal thresholds of TILs. TNBCs with more than 20% sTILs (P = 0.001) or with more than 10% iTILs (P = 0.003) were associated with higher pCR rates in univariate analysis. Multivariate analysis showed that a 20% threshold of sTILs (P = 0.005) was an independent predictive factor for pCR.ConclusionsOur study indicated that TILs scored by recommendations of International TILs Working Group 2014 in pre-NAC core needle biopsy specimens was significantly correlated with pCR in TNBCs, higher TILs scores predicting higher pCR rate. Both sTILs and iTILs were independent predictors for pCR in TNBCs. A 20% threshold for sTILs may be feasible to predict pCR to NAC in TNBCs.
Highlights
Triple-negative breast cancers (TNBCs) are a group of heterogeneous diseases with various morphology, prognosis, and treatment response
Triple-negative breast cancers (TNBCs) are defined as a group of breast cancer characterized by lacking of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PgR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) protein expression [1]
Several studies have been carried out to evaluate the predictive and prognostic values of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in TNBCs, which have indicated that high levels of Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) may be associated with a better clinical outcome and a better response to chemotherapy in TNBCs [7,8,9]
Summary
Triple-negative breast cancers (TNBCs) are a group of heterogeneous diseases with various morphology, prognosis, and treatment response. It is important to identify valuable biomarkers to predict the therapeutic response and prognosis for TNBCs. Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) may have predictive value to pathological complete response (pCR) in neoadjuvant treated TNBCs. absence of standardized methodologies for TILs measurement has limited its evaluation and application in practice. Several studies have been carried out to evaluate the predictive and prognostic values of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in TNBCs, which have indicated that high levels of TILs may be associated with a better clinical outcome and a better response to chemotherapy in TNBCs [7,8,9]. Methodologies of TILs evaluation in these studies were not standardized, which has hindered its application in clinical practice
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
